Darkening Clouds
by miss-cold
Summary: Link is fed up with the shadows that trail behind him and the destiny looming in front of him. When he goes in search of death he finds more than he bargained for. MxM LinkGannondorf
1. Default Chapter

S: WOOT! My first ever Zelda fic, I hope you enjoy it and don't get too squeamish about the coupling (nothing graphic but I thought I'd give it this rating just incase).

The sort-of Zelda bashing doesn't last.

WARNING: Contains male x male 'relationships' to coin the term loosely -0 Actually there's only a couple of small kisses sighs disappointedly. Dark themes, depression and such, as well as suicidal thoughts.

If you don't like it please don't read it. There you go, I've tried to stop you, now if you continue reading and become extremely disturbed then it's your own fault.

nods and points to self don't blame me.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything, none of the characters are mine, and I only own Gannondorf's pair of baggy brown pants... although they probably aren't mine either... sighs sadly

Chapter One 

Destiny

The dark clouds amassed overhead as Link trudged back towards the castle, body weary from fighting. Thunder growled warningly as lighting danced through the clouds, illuminating the walls surrounding the town, towering above him. Suddenly a white horse darted across the drawbridge, blue eyes widened with fear watched him from it's back as he sprang back from beneath the heavy white hooves. He spun, his mind reeling with confusion, as he watched the horse fade into the growing darkness bearing it's two passengers from sight. Lighting cracked above him once more as he turned. A dark skinned man relaxed on the back of a midnight black beast silhouetted against the raging sky.

His enemy.

Crimson eyes bore into his own.

His nightmare.

"Which way did they go?" The blonde haired boy glared into the ruby red eyes, defiance in the face of such power. He had been such a fool.

A smirk.

Pain.

Laughter.

His destiny.

"Link?" A soft, melodic voice caressed him.

"Let me be." Turing over where he lay he glared at the roughly cut stone awash with soft glowing light. The relaxing melody, which flowed through the fairy fountain, tried to ease his growing agitation. A small fairy skimmed across his shoulder as it tried to heal something, which could not be mended by mere magic alone. The festering wound of emptiness within him. It had overshadowed him since he had first entered the sacred realm.

"You shouldn't be avoiding your destiny. I have let you stay here for awhile as you were in need of rest, but you can not abandon your land and future forever."

"What if this is my destiny? This is not my land, this is not my future. I was brought here against my will on the whim of a young girl's prophecy. What if I was destined to fail?"

"You have not yet failed my love. Nor will you." The longhaired fairy smiled softly as she placed a comforting hand on the young man's scarred shoulder.

"You don't want me here anymore." Link sat up slowly, back still turned to the fairy. "I am a burden, forgive me for not having seen this before. I will go." The cold echoed in the curt, precise wording.

"No, that's not what I meant. Link, the future depends on you, if you fail the future will fail."

"Whether or not I fail or succeed, time will continue, the future will become the present which will in time become the past." Link stooped to sort through his healing potions, his lips drawn in to a frown and his brow furrowed, the low dull ache that accompanied his dreams always told him when it was time to start moving again.

"But if you fail the future will be dark, cast in shadow. If you succeed, the future will flourish, light will return to the land." Standing he turned to face the magenta haired Fairy, his once lively blue eyes shadowed.

"Your urge me to go because Zelda is here. Isn't she." A statement not a question.

"Sheik, you know referring to her highness as Zelda is dangerous." Link snorted.

"She may have fooled me once with that disguise but do you truly believe that Gannondorf would be deceived by such a small trick? Sheik indeed." Picking the discarded sword leaning against the wall he examined it, he chuckled darkly to himself. 'The Sword of Time, the sword of misery, death, pain, endless existence.' Ignoring the fairy watching him he fingered the blade, drawing blood, 'An untimely death for an unfit hero.' The thought slid well oiled through his mind, 'No, he was too weak even to end his own existence. Besides the shadow wouldn't let him, it kept him trapped here in this reality.' He slid the sword forcefully into his scabbard.

"Link?" A small voice broke his thoughts, the voice which filled him with loathing.

"Princess Zelda." Her title and name dropped from his lips laden with disgust. "What brings you here? So close to Gannondorf's castle." He turned to her a mock look of concern on his features. "You may get caught, and then what would your kingdom do?" The look turned darker as the blonde haired young man continued. "I suppose the same thing it has been doing these last few years, depending on a man whose life was stolen from him, whose innocence was ripped from him, whose spirit was broken, used, and defiled." He had seen too much pain, death and destruction, it only added to the growing shadow in him. "Ah, but what do they care as long as he gets the job done. Isn't that right? For was that not what you came here for?"

"Link-"

"Don't fret little princess I am leaving to face my destiny, after all, if it truly is my destiny it will come to pass sooner or later. As does death." He smiled curtly and skirted past the crimson-eyed Sheik, the eyes reminding him of the powerful man in his dream.

His death.

Strolling across the rainbow coloured bridge he gazed up at the dark castle, reflecting the state of his mind, it towered above him as the desert king had done in his nightmare, powerful, dreadful, alluring. His heart kicked in his chest. 'Alluring?!' Entering the sinister, gaping doorway he pushed the thought from his head, his body jumping into action as laser beams cut the air around him.

As he felt his life leave him and the floor redden with his blood, he saw the small pink glow of a fairy surround him, replenishing his energy in exchange for it's own. Why had he brought the fairy along if all he wished for was death? Was it because he was afraid? Or was it... was it because he wanted to face Gannondorf one last time. Face him and understand the truth.

His sword slid out of the metal husks as they clattered to the floor, magic draining from them. He slumped against the wall, the final key heavy against his chest, his lungs burning from the effort of the last fight, his cuts stinging from the thin layer of sweat covering his body, his tunic ripped and soaked with patches of drying blood. Dragging himself up for the last confrontation Link ran a hand through his hair, gulping down the last of his sickly sweet red potion. Placing the odd shaped key into the heavily chained door he pushed it open, feeling the skin on his already scarred shoulders knit and the blow to the back of his head fade to a dull ache instead of the splitting pain he had endured earlier. The emptiness of the room surprised him and he stumbled wearily up the long flight of stairs where at the top he suspected Gannondorf would be waiting for him, his flaming hair, matching the blaze in his crimson eyes and the fire of his laughter.

"At last we meet again." The man stood waiting in the room at the top of the stairs as he had guessed, the only thing that surprised him about this meeting was the sudden drop he received from the emptiness inside him as he first saw the desert mage.

"You have finally made it, I was a little disappointed that you took so long." Link didn't bother responding; he didn't respond as Zelda was presented before him trapped in a diamond cage of magic, neither did he respond to the dark skinned man's goading. The words were lost on him, they swept over him like an enchanting murmur, the haunting voice carrying meaning which he failed to understand. He didn't need to understand, he had come here for only one thing. Death. So instead he watched the desert man, studied his movements carefully, the way he held himself while speaking to him, as if he was talking to a small child who didn't understand, someone inferior. He supposed he was. The way his hand rested calmly on the hilt of his sword, fingers unconsciously tapping to a tune, which he couldn't hear, a rhythm to which he found himself mirroring with his foot. The fingers slowed there dance and stopped under the blue eyed stare and Link glanced up to find the man watching him carefully, his mouth no longer forming words, his voice no longer filling the room. His crimson eyes alight with a touch of confusion and curiosity.

"Why are you here?" Link shrugged.

"Does it matter?"

"Humour me." The man's careless grin shot straight through Link, carving into him.

"To die." The tone of the voice not the answer seemed to catch the taller man off guard. A cautious, curiosity narrowed the crimson eyes as he cocked his head slightly to regard the emotionless looking young man.

"Surely you, the defiant, bold child have more confidence in yourself to believe you can defeat me. You are after all the Hero of Time, a child of destiny. Are you not?" The tone was mocking and Link smiled humourlessly.

"I am not that child anymore. I've aged and matured; I know this was a fool's quest, a false hope for a fading kingdom." The desert king nodded, a scornful smile gracing his lips.

"As they say, with age comes wisdom."

"And with knowledge and experience the loss of innocence." Link drew his sword and held it level with the desert man's heart. Gannondorf studied him calmly, noting the slight shake in the young man's grip, his own sword still resting against his side.

"You still seem innocent to me Fairy boy." He stepped forward, closer to the point of the blade, tempting the young man to strike. "All too innocent." He smirked regarding the blade now inches from his heart. "Tell me." He glanced up into uncertain blue eyes, noting the flickering shadow there.

"Have you ever truly experienced life?"

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---To be cont.

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The language is a bit odd, I don't really know what I was trying to do O.o but it levels out to normal in the other chapters

S: Please R&R! See the small button down there, it is pleading with you to press it, it gets very lonely. Plus I'd love to get some feed back! I know a lot of people don't like the idea of Link and Gannondorf getting chummy, but please let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter II

S: This is obviously the next chapter. I hope who ever is reading this enjoys it, and those who don't... alas I have failed you!

WARNING: Contains male x male. Dark themes, depression, suicidal thoughts.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything

Chapter Two 

Unasked Questions

The question caught Link off guard, as did the lighting fast movement of the Gerudo king, which had him disarmed and pressed up hard against the wall.

"Well, my pretty little Fairy boy?" Link swallowed nervously against the cool metal gauntlet wrapped around his throat.

"I don't understand." He managed to choke out, as his body was slowly crushed between the smooth stonewall and the heavily armoured man, the emptiness intensified.

"If you have never experienced life, then why do you seek death?" Ruby eyes blazed as they searched Link for an answer.

"I-"Shutting his eyes against the crimson onslaught he tried to think of an answer to the painful question. The emptiness within him writhed.

"I what? I don't want to live anymore? I want to take the easy way out? I-"

"I don't know! Because I'm sinking in shadow, drowning in my own self pity. Being devoured by emptiness. Because I'm disgusted in myself! I'm only a half person, I don't even know who I am, who I was, who I will be. Why live a half formed life? Why live when so much has been taken away from me, when I've lost so much, lost what I never had in the first place." The grip on him lessened and he sniffed angrily when he realized tears had fallen unwillingly from his eyes. He avoided looking at the man pressed up against him, the one he had just spilled his soul to, until metal fingers caught his chin and forced him to look into the powerful crimson eyes.

"Love."

Blue eyes widened as the single word infiltrated the raging haze in his mind. A chuckle escaped his throat reverberating across his lips, brushing against the dark man's cheek before being followed by peals of manic laughter. Let go he collapsed on the floor amidst a fit of hysterical chuckles, shoulders shaking from frenzied mirth.

"Love?! Live for love?! Why?" The laughter ceased, leaving the young man on the floor shaking. "So that it can turn on me?! Use and abuse me, tear me apart from the inside. I've experienced the dealings of love, betrayed by my heart."

"Perhaps you have mistaken the common stirrings of lust for that of love, love never let's you feel betrayed, you feel loss, anger, pain, yes, but never betrayal, love can never betray you as love is the only thing in this world that is the pure truth of yourself." The desert king's soft voice caused Link's mind to burn with confusion before he jerked his head back from the sudden and tender caress against his cheek that left him shaking.

"What are you doing?" Eyes wide, confusion, uncertainty, anger, sadness, emotions flitted in their blue depths as he stared up at the desert king standing over him.

"Tell me, innocent one, who was your love?" The crimson eyes soft yet binding. Link struggled with himself, what was happening? Why should he tell this man anything, he was the enemy... _she_ was the enemy.

"Sheik." Avoiding the other man he ducked his head, long blonde locks falling in front of his face covering the rage in his eyes and hiding the blush from his cheeks.

"Zelda?" A growl from the seated Link answered his question. "The little princess captured the interest of the hero of time disguised as a young man." He chuckled and Link's rage swirled inside him and he rose to face the amused man.

"Are you – "His raging was cut through by a dismissive wave of the other man's hand.

"Don't be hasty, I merely find it amusing that she has attempted to capture your heart since the very beginning and only through disguising herself has she managed to captivate the young fairy man. Imagine the anger she must feel towards herself, you have shunned her for the male her. You fancy him yet you hate her. She is being torn apart by hatred and jealousy of herself." The chuckle returned and Link felt his rage easing, his rage for Zelda that had burnt in him since she had revealed herself, crushing the image of Sheik was slowly replaced by sadness, they had unwittingly destroyed each other.

"But you can not truly say you loved him if you hardly knew him. His mystery was alluring, his eyes, or eye as the case maybe was captivating; the tussle of blonde hair was fascinating. He enthralled you, but that does not constitute as love. Or are you truly that shallow?" The desert mage shrugged "If I was you I'd forget the pain Sheik caused you, it'll only drag you down, you should find someone you can truly share your feelings with."

"I- what do you know about me or love?!" Link spat out more in rage towards himself and the confusion which surrounded him then the man before him.

"I seem to know more about both than you do." Gannondorf ran a gauntleted hand through his flaming hair and shook his head as if deciding on something. "Leave the castle." He waved at the door Link had come through, 'was it few minutes ago? Hours?' "Go. Find yourself, find love, live your life, if you still find the need to die I'll be waiting for you. Just follow the path of death and destruction." A wry smile tugged at his lips as he turned, leaving Link standing dumbstruck, before he disappeared through a hidden side door toward the back of the room.

Blinking Link's mind swirled in mists of uncertainty and confusion, the aching shadow within him raged. 'What had just happened? He had just been dismissed, but why? Should he leave? He had come here to understand, understand the truth. But could truth be understood? He had been given answers to questions he had not known he had been asking, answers, which presented even more questions. If truth was love and he had come in search of truth had he come in search of love?

Staring at the door that the desert king had vanished through he examined the thoughts and emotions that the dark haired man had dredge up in him, how he had known exactly what he had been feeling, what he had thought, how to vanquish his darker thoughts and bring back his desire for life. This man fascinated him, they were suppose to be enemies but he had helped him, ignored both their destinies and told him to go and live his life. Through his speech Link had compared the fiery haired man to Sheik, his eyes held the same burning determination in them and the same warmthness that appeared at times and had captivated Link. But he'd come to realize he liked Gannondorf's eyes better, they were a deeper red, holding an untold mystery and unfathomable depth, while Sheik's eyes had been shallower, lighter, a mirror of Zelda's except for the colour. The mystery that surrounded Sheik was one of his identity. While Gannondorf presented himself, who he was, confidently, proudly, yet also with a tantalizing hint of mystery, a mystery veiled in desert winds, hidden in the corner of his smirk, promising. It should have clashed but merged so readily with his relaxed carelessness and the lust for life the man seemed to have, the careless grin which encompass his whole being.

Perhaps the reason he was drawn to Sheik was his shallow resemblance of the desert mage. He had known the mage since childhood, haunting, enthralling, captivating him in his dreams. Dominating. His fiery eyes were scorched into his mind, his laughter deep and low lingering, unforgettable on the edge of his consciousness. He had been a constant in his life. They were coupled in destiny.

He sidled through the door Gannondorf had closed behind him minutes ago, the long dark corridor which followed was littered with doors and smaller corridors which ran off to the left and right. His trail still warm, Link tracked him through a small wooden door and into a small room, five doors leading from it, taking the larger one second from the left he entered another corridor slipping through the fifth door to the right and caught his breath. A small room furnished in the ways of the desert people opened up to a large verandah, which over looked the liquid fire below the castle. Spread behind it were the plains of Hyrule, Death Mountain climbing to the left, now smoking, the red ring no longer crowning it. The Kokiri forest laced the far edge of the field before drawing to and end beside the shores of the lake, shining silver in the bright daylight. The desert spread to the right, a colourful smudge of reds and browns.

"What are you doing here?!" The confident voice was edged with a hint of anger and another emotion Link couldn't pin point. A crackle of magic danced through the air. The blonde haired man turned to find Gannondorf shirtless, his muscles rippled as he moved to place his hands on his well-formed hips inching over the top of a pair of chocolate brown coarse pants tied with a dark brown twined draw string, swaying and lapping lazily at his cloth covered upper thigh.

Link swallowed hard.

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--- to be cont.

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S: I know I'm begging but... PLEASE R&R!

sigh I have no dignity.


	3. Chapter III

S: Hmmm well this was actually gonna be a really short fling them together, no plot, lots of sex kinda thing, but now it's turned into a look-there-is-a-resemblance-of-a-plot and no sex!

Obviously I made up all the stuff about Gannondorf's childhood, I can't remember there being any mention of it in the game and I can't remember if the two desert witches were actually his sisters or if I just happened to make that memory up in my head -0 Anyway enjoy!

Sorry for not getting it out sooner, it was typed up adn ready on tuesday but i couldn't uplaod it for some unknown reason.

YAY! Thank you Purple Lizard!!!! Or your friend O.o which ever one you are... all that guessing really confused me -0

Thanks Cinnamin911 for your review! i guess begging does help sometimes

WARNING: Contains male x male. Dark themes, depression, suicidal thoughts.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything sigh

Chapter Three 

Demons

"You don't waste time do you fairy boy, moved onto another interest already?" The amused smirk tugging at the dark skinned man's lips brought a blush to Link's pale cheeks, as he reprimanded the staring youth.

"No, I..." A raised eyebrow over amused eyes halted Link's faltering sentence.

"You've come here to kill me and free the world from darkness?" The mocking tone was back and Link noticed the tensing of the other man's muscles as he tried to shake away the emerging sense of foreboding it brought with it.

"No, what you said before." He tried to force the feeling back.

"Yes?" A questioning glance was passed in his direction as Gannondorf moved languidly past him to pick up a yellow fruit from a small bowl on the wooden table, he examined it before he squeezed it softly, testing it. The action made Link feel as if he was insignificant, a trespasser in this man's private world and he was not welcome. An inferior being wasting his time, a nothing to be ignored.

His quick reflexes were the only things that saved him from having his face covered in splattered fruit, he stared at the fruit in his hand before staring at the other man now draped over the chair, another fruit in his hand, his relaxed manner calming the inner nervousness Link tried to hide.

"Sit and stop pitying yourself." Gratefully Link sat, his aching body weary from the hours of fighting, he slumped in his chair, the small smooth skinned fruit clutched in his hand. "Now what is it that you found so important to tell me that you couldn't wait to see me again?" the man smirked before biting into the flesh of the fruit, licking his lips of the sweetened juice, tongue darting to gather the wayward drops. Link swallowed, trying not to stare at the mesmerizing display before him.

"Love. You told me I should live for love, and do you know why I live? Why I'm here?" Link swallowed nervously. "You." Link was expecting perhaps anger, a raised eyebrow, faked indifference, not laughter. Not the deep resounding laughter he associated with the man.

"Are you saying, my young, innocent fairy boy that you love me?" He chuckled and shook his head. "You don't love me, minutes before you were an emotional wreck waiting for death, pining for your lost love, now you're a confused child not knowing what he wants and choosing the most immediate answer."

"That's not true! Why can't I love you?!" He knew he was being childish, protesting the obvious and demanding answers to questions he already knew.

"Because, you don't know what love is, because we are meant to hate each other, we are destined to be opposites, dest- What are you d-"Before he could finish his question Link had straddled him and pressed his lips against the man's protesting open mouth, he slipped his tongue in before he was violently pulled away by the back of his forest green tunic. He didn't notice the thin black smoke that swirled on his breath.

"You don't know what your doing kid." Gannondorf's roughened voice hitched as Link squirmed on his lap. The young blonde man smirked.

"If it's destiny why fight it?" The grip on the back of his tunic loosened as he slipped forward, calloused fingers running down the other man's bear chest, catching on the edge of his dark brown pants.

"This is not our destiny, we are opposites, shadow and light." The desert mage's breath came a little faster as Link leaned closer a smug grin on his face.

"Opposites attract, besides without shadow what is light? The two complement each other. As for our destiny the only certainty it has to it is that we are linked to each other, no one has said whether as enemies or as..." Link paused looking down into the crimson eyes which flickered, searchingly. "...or as lovers." He kissed him softly, a brief touching of the lips nothing more. The desert man closed his eyes, his brow knitting in pain as he felt the shadow he had carried with him for seven years rage within him, so close to it's other.

"You felt it didn't you, when we entered the sacred realm. It's been part of you for seven long years haunting, slowly devouring you. " Link cast him a curious look still perched on his lap. "The emptiness." Link shuddered before nodding; a guarded curiosity lit his eyes. "The price I paid for my magic, for my power." Shifting he lifted Link off his lap, regretting the movement as the warmth of the young man above him left, but he had to distance himself. The shadow growled angrily within him and he saw Link wince, knowing the shadow within the boy had answered it's mates call.

"You're saying the darkness..."

"Is mine." He turned away from the man's shocked stare, gazing out the window his eyes were drawn to the reds and browns of the desert.

His home.

"I knew my mother for only the first few years of my life, I don't remember her much now, but I always remember her gentleness, so different from my father. My father, he was a power hungry man, too busy and too uncaring to bring up a son. So my mother took care of me until I was old enough to do chores on my own, by then she had outlived her usefulness, and my father killed her. I became merely another slave to him." He stopped and unclenched his fists before he continued, trying to calm himself.

" I gained my freedom when my ninth birthday came, the year the children of the desert leave for the fortress to train, only young girls go, but one of my mother's close friends smuggled me out when she came a year earlier for my sisters. My father was furious but little can be said against the feisty warrior's of the Gerudo fortress. I spent the rest of childhood there pushing myself to be the best. Women are seen as higher warriors than men, magically more powerful they also have a certain grace a man can never achieve. I wanted to be seen not only as a man who had achieved the status of a woman warrior, but as a man who had surpassed it, I wanted to prove to them and myself that I was not just a child to be forgotten amidst the piles of dirty clothing and endless chores. I had grown powerful in my own right but through my search I had heard of an extremely powerful source. So of course I sought the power." A low dark chuckle erupted from his throat.

"And paid dearly for it. The darkness, the devouring emptiness is the soul of a demon. In exchange for the power I was to harbor the demon within my body, allowing it to feed on my growing power for it to produce more, feed on my self to allow it to grow. The more powerful I became the more powerful it grew. The only thing in existence that I knew could vanquish it was the Triforce, but of course a being such as I had become could never open such a thing as the entrance to the sacred realm. I needed someone pure, innocent, gentle and caring."

"Why did you choose me?" The voice held a touch of bitterness and Gannondorf willed himself to keep staring out the window, not to turn and confront the purity he had ruined.

"I didn't. Too late did I realize what I had become, the vessel from which darkness would spread out across Hyrule, the shadow knew of my plan for how could I hide such a thing from myself? It manipulated me and used me to get closer to what it wanted. The Triforce. It had grown too powerful to inhabit just my body, it needed to release itself onto something larger, more powerful. Once it had the Triforce it could release itself out into the world and nothing could stop it." He paused running a hand through his flaming hair still not facing the young man he had used.

"But if it has the Triforce why is it still trapped?"

"Because of you." He turned around to face the blue-eyed man. "Because as I am part of it, it is part of me, I knew it's weaknesses, it's flaws. I found that by splitting it apart I could manage it, that it wouldn't have enough power to release itself from me. So I used you, ruining your life as I ruined mine." Anguish rushed his voice as the darkness in Link's eyes gathered. "Entering the sacred realm, I used the lapse in being to link myself to you, splitting the demon and binding it to your body. This creature is the demon of which the princess's prophecy foretells, the being that you are destined to destroy."

"How am I to destroy a being that is within myself?" The voice was hard and bitter.

Gannondorf winced, he had brought the pain to the man's voice, he had darkened his life, shadowed his soul.

"We are already linked, but we have to be linked physically for your part of the demon to return to me."

"And then what?" Gannondorf smiled, sadness clouded his eyes.

"I, unlike you, have experienced enough life to know when the time is right."

"You want me to kill you?"

"No, just as you feel the last of the shadow leaving you, I want you to not only kill me but destroy me, make sure nothing is left." Link nodded determinedly.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Something you'll no longer be willing to do. Kis-"Link had stepped up already, drawing the other man forcefully down to his height and smashing their lips together. The desert mage grunted at the force but opened his mouth to the other man to let the rejoicing demon within him bond with it's lost part. The hand on the back of his neck, caught in his flaming hair, clenched as he begin to feel his power and darkness drain from him, panicking he opened his eyes to see the blurred look of pure concentration on the shorter man's face. Trying to pull back as he felt the darkness within him abating another hand gripped him firmly around his waist staying his panicking protests. 'This wasn't meant to happen, _he_ was suppose to draw the demon in, and then Link was suppose to destroy him and it. Not the other way around. Link... The first time he had ever referred to the young man by his true name.' Something vague, a memory brushed past him. 'Link... he was missing something crucial.' He was violently pushed out of his thoughts as he was thrust back hard against the wall. Crumpled on the ground he panicked, he hadn't been ready to destroy the creature.

He had let slip the sacrifice Link had made.

He should have been ready.

He looked up at the man standing over him a smug smile spread across his face. "Now you definitely can't say I don't love you." He held out a slightly trembling hand to the shocked desert king.

"Link? You..." A wave of relief swept through him as he gazed into clear blue eyes, no hidden shadow in their depths. "How did you-"

"Like you said the demon was part of you, my part of the demon was part of me, it was the part the held their one true flaw. The only flaw they succeeded in hiding from you. Once you revealed the true form of the emptiness, I searched and found it, it was so obvious that it was right in front of us." Link helped the Gerudo king to his feet trembling slightly from exhaustion.

"Are you alright?" Link nodded. "What was it?" Link smirked tapping his nose knowingly.

"I was destined to defeat it."

"That's not the answer I want to hear." Gannondorf snorted. Link grinned before it slowly faded, the castle trembled beneath his feet and his eyes rolled up into the back of his head. He was caught just as he collapsed, his eyes closing as the castle started crumbling around the two men.

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S: I'm not sure if I should continue this or just leave it finished there. I suppose if I don't get asked I'll leave it and you can imagine your own ending.


	4. Chapter IV

S: Ok so I'm weak and I though it'd be a crap way to finish the story if I left it like that back there.

And I'm sorry about using a bit of your idea for this chapter purple lizard! If anyone likes this chap go see purplelizards account! The stories called Ugly.

See warnings and disclaimers in chapters 1-4.

_Link smiled before it slowly faded, the castle trembled beneath his feet and his eyes rolled up into the back of his head. He was caught just as he collapsed, his eyes closing as the castle started crumbling around the two men._

Different perspectives are indicated like this

Chapter Four 

Death and Rebirth

Tears welled in the eyes of everyone who had turned up at the funeral that day, masses of people mourning the death of the Hero of Time, two weeks after the darkness had cleared the land. Zelda shed the tears she was expected to; meaningless droplets of water fell to the green grass that now grew beneath her magenta slippers where only death had resided.

'This had worked out better than she had planned, not only had Gannondorf been defeated but Link, the boy who had rejected and would have been made the king to rule by her side, had died, leaving the kingdom to her alone.' She did feel a little sorry for his sacrifice but he was only a means to the end as he had finally realised before he faced his destiny.

Throwing the funeral wreath of Hylian flowers into the small depression in the ground where the fiery pits had swallowed Gannondorf's castle and with it both the dark mage and the Hero of Time, she cursed silently at the fact they had not found the bodies, but more importantly the Master sword. It would have been a great asset for her; a reminder to the other races of their loyal and permanent bind to her.

"People of Hyrule and our honoured guests" Her voice cut through the pathetic sniffling and the choked sobs. When all was silent she continued. "Today we honour the departure of our Hero of Time, and the sacrifice he made for our land and our people." The people cheered. Zelda annoyed by the interruption pursed her lips in irritation waiting for the noise to die down. "We celebrate the uniting of all races under the banner of Hyrule, and the freedom we have from the darkness that has haunted us for many years…"

A chant of Hero began to rise from the people, growing louder and deafening anything the princess may have had to say. 'He had even overcome her in his death.' Turning swiftly and angrily away she pushed her way through the crowds cursing the fact she had told her guards to stay back to promote a more 'people-friendly' and truthful mourning process. Growling she shoved past two tall men swathed in desert clothing, she heard one of them chuckle as she caught her self on one of them and stumbled, 'the disrespect of that man!' Turning back to rebuke the lack of respect she caught the eyes of the smaller one, a brilliant blue sparkled out from behind a headscarf, a familiar feeling struck her, but she ignored it. Noticing her stare he bowed quickly averting his eyes and spoke a garbled sentence in what she guessed was a traditional Gerudo language. It didn't sound like the typical and most common tongue, but several of the separate desert tribes had their own languages derived from the main. Nodding her head in dismissal she decided to ignore the disrespect, her guards could deal with it later if need be, she just wanted to get away from all these people touching her, jostling her out of the way to get to the grave of the Hero of Time.

"What was that?!" The taller man chuckled as the young woman shoved angrily against the pull of the crowd away from them.

"What?" The smaller one stood a little closer to the stronger man, the crowd parted slightly around the both of them so they weren't pulled in the direction of the depression marking the early grave of the 'Hero of Time'. They hadn't stood this close for a while.

"What you just spouted to the princess."

"What, can't you tell your own language when you hear it?" The laughter in the younger's voice was evident as was the amusement in his blue eyes.

"That's one of the worst imitations I have ever heard, you sounded like a drowning horse." The smirk reflected in the crimson eyes, before they flicked across the crowd to where the princess had extracted herself from the crowd and was standing motioning in the direction of the two of them. Following his gaze the blue-eyed man nodded slightly, a bare inclination of his head, and understanding crossed the Shiekah's face before she turned away.

Finally freeing herself she glared at Impa who stood waiting patiently having extracted herself from the crowd with the ease of a Sheikah a while ago. She noticed the woman watching the pair she had stopped by, a calculating look on her face.

"I want the guards to arrest them, they were being disrespectful and it needs to be punished." A look of private dawning crossed Impa's face before she turned to the princess, arms crossed, a joy in her eyes the princess didn't see and didn't bother to look for.

"I don't think that would be a wise idea."

"Are you questioning an order?!" Zelda growled, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"No, my lady, but it would create a bad image if the guards were to rush into the crowd, it may create more havoc than necessary, perhaps after the mourning would be more preferable time. It would not look pleasing to the newly united peoples."

"I will see them punished after the mourning." The princess spoke with an angry nod of the head before disappearing behind a contingent of guards that filed through the castle walls beside the great fairy's now empty temple to the construction site of the new castle.

Feeling the mass of people beginning to ebb the two desert clothed men departed, sliding through the crowd like shadows. Once passed the gates of Hyrule they both breathed a sigh of relief. Having to go back to the place where they had finally escaped from, left behind their old obligations, old failures, mistakes and lives had been stressful. Link smiled up at the sun feeling free again, it had been hard to see all those he had gathered and befriended on his travels mourning for him, but it had been harder to see the people he had never known shedding tears, craning their necks to see the false tears dripping down Zelda's face, sniffling and sobbing over the man who they knew as the Hero of Time. He had no name, he was nothing but a legend that they had come to see, hoping for a mere touch of greatness, so they could return home pleased, in the false pretence that they may have known him, if only for a short time.

He had forced himself to go and Gannondorf wouldn't let him go on his own, so the both of them had turned up. Gannondorf strolling behind him to watch over him and himself treading cautiously between friends and unknowns hoping not to be noticed so that he may farewell the haunted existence that had trailed him since childhood. So he could leave behind the need to kill, the prophecy and his destiny.

Leave behind all the others.

The Hero of Time.

The boy without a Fairy

Fairy Boy

To start a new life.

As himself.

As Link.

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--- THE END

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S: yep I thought the rest of this story sucked so I changed it to be only 4 chapters, instead of the main chaptered epic that I had stupidly thought to drag out.

Yep now its short and sweet and so much the better.


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